Eendracht Hotel: Romance in Stellenbosch

Are you staying with us this Valentine's? If so, don't miss out on celebrating a week of love at Eight Restaurant on Spier Wine Farm in Stellenbosch!

From 12-17 February, couples can choose from a selection of "love platters for two", one of which includes bruschetta, onion marmalade, homemade mayo, chicken liver pate, sesame chicken skewers, pasture-reared chicken vol au vent, fresh tomato salad, pickled cucumber and baby veggie quiche. Cost is R180 per platter and includes a bottle of Spier Signature Rose.

Also!!

For the month of February, the restaurant will be serving a High Tea where couples can feast on home-baked treats, including flourless chocolate cake, carrot cake, white chocolate amoretti, and lemon cheese cake with berry sauce. Cost: R60 per person, includes tea or coffee. Only available in the afternoon between 15:00 – 16:00.  http://www.eendracht-hotel.com/

Image & Source: Spier

Botlierskop: Swimming with our horses

Are you looking for a great way to spend your break?  Look how much fun this recent group of visitors had at Botlierskop.  They went out on a horse ride and ended up turning it into a  swimming activity!  Smiles and laughter all round and of course the horses loved the cool, wet treat!

http://www.botlierskop.co.za/

Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve: Drawing The Line Against Rhino Poaching

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The number of rhinos poached in South Africa sky-rocketed last year and with 57 cases of rhino poaching already reported this year, 2013 should be a year in which we all take an active stance against the slaughter of these majestic animals. The white rhinos at the Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve are always popular with guests and like many others we hope that we will be able to enjoy the company of these animals for a long time to come.

The large number of cars adorned with red rhino horns and the popularity of shopping bags that carry messages against rhino poaching suggests that many people are already sympathetic to the plight of rhinos. Yet there is always more that can be done. The anti-rhino poaching organisation OSCAP (Outraged SA Citizens Against Poaching) suggests these additional ways through which rhino poaching awareness can be created:

• Participate in Rhino Fridays by wearing your ‘Save The Rhino’ type T-shirt and then talking to folk about it
• Share and forward any emails or newspaper articles that you come across with everyone you know. The more people that are talking about it, the more people are doing something about it the more chances there are that the powers that be will do more than they are  to save our rhino.
• Whenever you or your family and friends participate in sporting events ie fun runs/walks, cycling events, triathlons etc, call yourselves ‘Team Rhino’, wear rhino T-shirts have a rhino mascot!
• Get your class or school to make Friday’s Rhino Fridays and get all your class mates to send a postcard to President Zuma.
• Encourage your school and or social group, art group whatever to start project like making a life sized rhino out of papier-mâché /wire, etc. Possibly in conjunction with a prominent business or your local radio station or newspaper. Have the rhino on display outside your school or at the front of a highly visible shopping cente (with their permission).
• Write about it, talk about it, share about it.

These are some of the things that we can do from the South African side, however, the sad reality remains that as long as there is a demand for rhino horn products, primarily in China, there will be poachers who are willing to keep up the supply. While stronger legal action against rhino poachers is needed in South Africa, it is also necessary that we put pressure on our government to engage seriously with the Chinese government around the need to create educational materials and to take other measures to dispel the myth that rhino horn is a remedy for a range of physical ailments. After all, history shows us that working together is crucial to overcoming great obstacles such as this one.

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Read more about the rhino poaching issue on the OSCAP website.

Cascade Country Manor's Olive grove

One of the treasures inherited by the Duke of Bedford, who called the estate home in the earlier parts of this century, is an Olive Grove. Cascade Country Manor boasts 900 olive trees on the property, which produces approximately 1 000 litres of olive oil annually.

From these decade old trees comes the harvest for Cascade Manor’s own Olive Oil, a hobby of Owner/Chef Volker Goetze. It is a unique blend produced mainly from Frantoio and Leccino olives.

Olive Oil Tasting

You can experience a pre-dinner Olive Oil Tasting enjoyed with freshly baked bread from the wood fired stone oven. Olive Oil tastings are offered daily at 10 am. Booking in advance is necessary.

Frantoio & Leccino

These cultivars are the principal participants in Italian olive oils from Tuscany. Leccino has a mild sweet flavour while Frantoio is fruity with a stronger aftertaste.

Frantoio is the most noted olive oil variety of Tuscany, Italy, and one of the most highly acclaimed oil varieties in the world. It is grown commercially in most olive growing regions including Italy, North Africa, Australia, Argentina and California. Under the name 'Paragon', Frantoio olives have also well proven themselves in most olive growing regions of Australia.

Frantoio olive trees have been grown in Italy for centuries under at least 19 synonyms such as Frantoiano, Correggiolo, Raggio, Gentile and Razzo. However, Italian DNA research in late 1998 showed that 12 Frantoio synonyms tested were all genetically different to some degree. Just for interest, in Tuscany, Italy, an olive oil processing factory is also called a 'Frantoio'.

Frantoio olives are small to medium size (2 to 3g) and oval in shape. The olives have a pleasant nutty flavour when pickled. When mature, the fruit are coloured purple-black, but at the preferred harvest time for oil production are green and purple-green. The highly noted oil is of fruity character, highly aromatic and of leading quality.

Leccino is also known as Leccio, Premice and Silverstone. The drupe is of medium size (2 to 2.5 grams). The maturation is early and simultaneous.

The fruit is purple-black although purple green at the optimal picking time. It has variable oil content of between 16 and 21%. The oil is good, mildly fruity and delicate.

This is a very rustic variety, widely planted throughout the world. The tree is quick to produce and resists well adverse climatic conditions and parasites. More recently it has been used for the production of table olives, semi-ripe or black.

Outlets & Price

Cascade Manor Olive Oil can be purchased on the Estate.

• 250 ml R45
• 500 ml R65

Awards

Cascade Manor received a Silver Award in the category for Intensely Fruity oils at the 2008 SA Olive Awards.

Botlierskop Elephants having fun in the sun

This great picture was taken at Botlierskop Private Game Reserve near Mossel Bay.

It's quite a rare sight to see these grand animals so relaxed and cooling off with their little one between them!

Roberston Wine Valley: Hands on Harvest

The Robertson Wine Valley is proud to host its fourth Hands-on Harvest. This boutique event will take place 22-24 February 2013 and offers wine aficionados and budding vintners a chance to experience the magic of harvest for a day – without having to quit their day jobs!
Guests can look forward to:
Grape Picking * Bunch Sorting * Stomping your own grapes Grape vs Wine Tasting * Harvest Market * Vineyard Tractor Trips Must tasting * Wine tasting by Horse Cart …. and much more
Groups are small and intimate to ensure that you have the very best hands-on experience and all activities need to be pre-booked by 20 February 2013. But hurry…as many of the tickets will be booked by then!
An Experience you will never forget!

Augusta de Mist hosts Des Wilson

At Augusta De Mist, we are so privileged to get some amazing guests. From movers and shakers in the jazz world to journalists, chefs and fashion designers. We were very honoured to have the wonderful Des Wilson and his gorgeous wife Jane with us this week, and to also cook dinner for them.

We were surprised and touched when Des left a copy of his very recent book Memoirs of a Minor Public Figure in the suite after they checked out. But what a book! Choc full of information on the transformation of British politics and the people behind it. As Sir Harold Evans says in the forward: “Every country needs a Des Wilson.”

Des Wilson’s career achievements include: The founding of the influential homeless charity Shelter; receiving the 1989 ITN award as ‘environmentalist of the decade’; being a member of the English Cricket Board. As well as being the author of 15 books and a journalist, public speaker, and radio and television personality, he found time to actively engage in two life-long interests, in his younger years to play cricket, and in later years to play poker. Des Wilson’s compelling memoirs, published to coincide with his 70th birthday in March 2011, will fascinate those who remember his many dynamic campaigns for social justice. They should also excite and inspire a younger generation who will discover, by reading one man’s story, just how much ordinary citizens can achieve if they decide to fight political dereliction, bureaucratic bullying, and corporate greed. The philosophies and practical strategies that helped change Britain are just as relevant today. So is his revealing account – as one of its ‘founders’ – of how the Liberal Democrats came about and how the party has developed. His intriguing history of that party and his discussion of the emergence of a coalition will enliven the current political debate.

The pages in these memoirs really do, as Peter Hennessy says “crackle and burn”. This is a two-in-one book. At one level, it is a hugely-engaging memoir of an indefatigable character who, by sheer force of personality, political instinct and a driving sense of right and wrong rose from beginnings in New Zealand to national political and social prominence in Britain. It is a life very well lived and lived with evident glee. But this is also a must-read book for anyone involved in campaigning who wants to learn from a master strategist how it should be done. And what a record of achievement he has to draw on: Shelter, lead-free petrol, protecting children from tobacco, Freedom of Information, Sunday shopping… I defy anyone to read this and not to be inspired by the energy and enthusiasm that fizz off every page or impressed the spine of integrity that runs through this book.

I know what I will be reading tonight!! Thank you Des for your wonderful generosity and choosing to stay with us.

Visit Des’s website here.

http://www.augustademist.com

Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve: Did you know?

Did you know that Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve has Cheetah and Wild Dogs?  We are steadily increasing the variety and number of game that we have here so that each guests' experience is rich and varied.

We hope to see you here soon so you can see first hand!

The Rockwell: Meet the duty manager.

Meet The Rockwell's Jean van der Merwe!

Jean is the maintenance manager as well as the duty manager at The Rockwell.  In the 2 ½ years on the job, Jean has thrived on the problem solving and relationship building aspects of the job.  Because he has 2 titles, he sometimes works shifts and sometimes normal office hours which gives him plenty of variety.  Jean dislikes it when he cannot fix a problem immediately and has to rely on outsiders to be brought in.  He remembers a time when there was a big leak in one of the bathrooms that he was unable to fix himself.  He called in an outside plumbing company and it took them 3 days and 3 different sets of people to fix the leak!  That was extremely frustrating. 

Jean’s favourite moment at The Rockwell was when the Fear factor – Malaysia crew were leaving the hotel after a long stay.  Jean had spent a lot of time looking after them and ensuring that their expectations were exceeded.  As they were leaving, they came up to Jean and said: “Tell your mom we said thanks for raising such a gentleman!”  What a fantastic compliment!

His favourite place in the hotel is the Penthouse 713 balcony.    From there the wrap-around views are breathtaking.  You can see the sunsets, the sunrises, Cape Town stadium and the harbour.

Jean’s wish for The Rockwell is for every guest to leave wanting to recommend it to their friends, family and colleagues.

Kagga Kamma: A visit by Black-Backed Jackal

Shh, I’m on tip-toe. Don’t want to wake the neighbours!!

Wow! We’ve spotted a Canis Mesomelas - simply put, the Black-Backed Jackal. They are found only in Africa which makes them very special and unique to our country.

This species habitat ranges from small to large cities and the Namib Desert. The males are usually larger than females and they prefer large open land as opposed to dense bushy areas. Although their black hair runs from the back of their necks to their tails, they have white chests and are rusty-white underneath. Their heads are dog- like but they have pointy ears, much like that of a cat. They scavenge for food in areas where bigger game is killed and will also survive off humans feeding them. They live for 12 to 14 years in captivity, we are very fortunate to spot one of them. Maybe you would be lucky enough to spot one of these seldom seen animals while spending the night in one of our open air rooms.